Giant salamanders have new home at zoo

Sam Johnson of the Reptile Department at the San Antonio Zoo moves one of seven Japanese Giant Salamanders on thier way to their new home in the Kronkosky's Tiny Tot Nature Spot. Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

Bekky Muscher-Hodges of the Reptile Department at the San Antonio Zoo lifts a Japanese Giant Salamander from it's transport container as she places it in it's new home in the Kronkosky's Tiny Tot Nature Spot. Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

Bekky Muscher-Hodges of the Reptile Department at the San Antonio Zoo lets a Japanese Giant Salamander slide from her hands as she places it in it's new home in the Kronkosky's Tiny Tot Nature Spot. Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Zoo workers inspect a Japanese Giant Salamander before it is moved to it's new home in the Kronkosky's Tiny Tot Nature Spot. Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

San Antonio Zoo Head Veterinarian Rob Coke, right, and zoo workers Cassie Hallmark, left, Shannon Cerveny Associate Vet, top left, and Isabel Martinez, center, inspect one of seven Japanese Giant Salamanders before moving it to it's new home in the Kronkosky's Tiny Tot Nature Spot. Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

A San Antonio Zoo worker uses a scanner to detect the chip in a Japanese Giant Salamanders before it is moved to it's new home in the Kronkosky's Tiny Tot Nature Spot. Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.

Photo By BOB OWEN/San Antonio Express-News

Bekky Muscher-Hodges of the Reptile Department in San Antonio Zoo prepares to release a Japanese Giant Salamander to it's new home in the Kronkosky's Tiny Tot Nature Spot. Wednesday, Sept. 12, 2012.

At first glance, the brown, speckled and spotted creature blended in among the stones in the pool.

Sam Johnson, wearing calf-high boots, eyed it, tucked tight to a side wall. She waded across and lifted the 2-foot-long Andrias japonicus, or Japanese giant salamander, from the water, cradling it like a log as she carried it to an adjacent room.

She lowered it into a black tub, where several zoo workers held it still with a damp blue towel as blood samples were taken.

As they performed several tests to check hormone levels and verify its sex, it secreted a soapy film that smelled like pepper.

“It's like a protective measure,” reptile keeper Bekky Muscher-Hodges said as she looked into the vat. “Aren't they cute? They look like big, slimy Muppets.”

Keepers at the San Antonio Zoo moved the facility's seven salamanders Wednesday morning from the Wild Wonders exhibit to their new home at Kronkosky's Tiny Tot Nature Spot, where visitors, especially age 5 and younger, can have an eye-level view.

The salamanders can grow up to 60 pounds and 5 feet in length. The second largest salamander in the world, they are listed as near-threatened on the World Conservation Union's Red List of Threatened Species.

They eat fish, squid and shrimp, but can go for long periods without food.

Senior staff veterinarian Rob Coke said the San Antonio Zoo has the oldest captive group of its size in the nation.

“It was an opportune time to get their health checks,” Coke said, “and make sure they don't have any diseases.”

Coke said the results would be formulated into a normal data base for use in the United States

The salamanders, four females and three males, were hatched in 1990. They were a gift from Kumamoto, San Antonio's sister city in Japan, in 1999.

The salamanders are some of the last animals moved from the Wild Wonders exhibit, which will close permanently.

The area will be the site of the new Zootennial Plaza, slated to be completed in 2014, commemorating the zoo's 100-year anniversary.

For the ride to their nearby new home, the workers wrapped the salamanders in damp towels and slid them into separate, 3-foot long coolers.

They drove them over to the Nature Spot, once a popular boat ride attraction. They lowered them into the rock-filled tank in a large net, where they slid into the water without a splash, snug among the stones and shadows.